Category Archives: Econoblog

Markets fell on Tuesday, on fears, we are told, about weakness in mortgages and housing; this prompted Brad Setser to ask me whether I’m still as sanguine as I used to be on such matters. I couldn’t reply on Wednesday, … Continue reading →

Brad Setser asks whether I’ve changed my mind about the mortgage market in the wake of today’s data and the market’s reaction to it. I haven’t really looked at either yet, and tomorrow I’m going to be spending the day … Continue reading →

Whither alpha? Alexander Campbell, in fine form, officiates at a debate between David Rowe and Barry Schachter. All of them, refreshingly, reject the idea that there’s some limited supply of alpha, and that as the number of hedge funds and … Continue reading →

Dean Baker doesn’t seem to quite understand how the inverse relation between price and yield works in practice: Back in the summer of 2003, the interest rate on the 10-year treasury bond bottomed out at 3.05 percent. Today, it stands … Continue reading →

I was quoted in an article by Alen Mattich of Dow Jones this morning. I certainly can’t complain about the company I’m keeping: Some like James Grant of the respected industry newsletter, Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, have been warning about … Continue reading →

I’m in California this week, which is why posting is rather light: the beach is rather more attractive than squabbling over mortgage-backed bonds. But of course California is the poster child for the housing market boom and bust, and so … Continue reading →

The world is full of people desperate to know what Gretchen Morgenson thinks about the market in mortgage-backed securities, or MBSs. The problem is that her column last week on the subject is hidden behind the Times Select firewall. So … Continue reading →

One of the things l love the most about having a blog is the way in which I often bring up a subject and then get a stream of commenters — many of whom know much more on the subject … Continue reading →

Benedict Carey finds a 2000 paper by Lloyd Cohen, which is well worth rediscovering. From the abstract: The central purpose of this paper is to show that lottery play is not economically irrational and uninformed. The paper presents a theory … Continue reading →

There’s an interesting debate going on in the comments section of yesterday’s housing post about the relative costs of buying and renting a house. David Sucher is in Seattle: We have had a great discrepancy between buying & renting since … Continue reading →

Two interesting stories today: a big profile of Nathan Rothschild in the NYT, saying that his buy-side activities might make him the richeset Rothschild ever: In five short years, the man in line to be the fifth Baron Rothschild is … Continue reading →

Nouriel Roubini today blogs his new paper which argues that the US housing recession is far from bottoming out. In truth, however, the paper is really just a longer-than-usual blog: it generally asserts at least as much as it argues, … Continue reading →

Greg Mankiw worries about the effect of a brain drain on the Indian economy, were the US to open its doors to skilled workers: If skilled software engineers leave India for Silicon Valley, the unskilled workers left behind in India … Continue reading →

What went wrong with the subprime mortgage market? In a nutshell, a lot of the problem was that it wasn’t as sophisticated, in terms of derivatives, as the rest of the bond market. Let me explain. Investors demanded vast amounts … Continue reading →

Blog ad-sales network Federated Media is not for sale, says its founder John Battelle, although he does concede that “any startup has its price”. And what would that price be? According to a MergerMarket interview with Federated COO Jason Weisberger … Continue reading →

Now here’s a provocative paper, from the ever-astute Charles Kenny. In all the talk about Nick Stern’s discount rates, he points out, there has been relatively little ink spilled on the fact that Stern uses a declining marginal rate of … Continue reading →

Here’s the information that the New York Times decides to give us: Investment banker and PhD economist Has a PhD from MIT Worked at the Council of Economic Advisers for a year in the Clinton Administration This is almost certainly … Continue reading →

I went to a press conference today with Claire Gaudiani and Mario Morino on the subject of philanthropy in general and “venture philanthropy” in particular. Gaudani has a book out, called “The Greater Good: How Philanthropy Drives the American Economy … Continue reading →

Question of the day, part 2. Skye Ventures: vultures, or just patsies? It seems that Skye got sold a bunch of paper ostensibly issued by a now-bankrupt Venezuelan development bank — paper which, it would seem, was fake. So are … Continue reading →

Question for the day: Why aren’t there any activist mutual funds? (Or are there?) One big difference between equity hedge funds and long-only mutual funds is that the hedge funds often seek out underperforming companies, and then agitate for some … Continue reading →

From an interview with Guillermo Calvo, excerpted at the Bayesian Heresy: I joined the central bank and worked under Julio H.G. Olivera, whose orders to me were, essentially: Go to the library, get a copy of Allen’s Mathematics for Economists … Continue reading →

There’s not going to be a lot of new stuff on felixsalmon.com today, mainly because I have to do my taxes. But I did get a phone call this morning from mortgage expert Josh Rosner, and I learned quite a … Continue reading →

Note to self: Make sure that Josh Rosner reads this, by the inestimably fabulous Tanta, before I talk to him about the mortgage situation. The poor chap deserves a right of reply, I think. But right now it’s Tanta 1-0 … Continue reading →